PARIS, November 6. /TASS/. About 70,000 police officers and gendarmes will be deployed on November 7 throughout France to ensure safety during the protests scheduled for that day, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said.
"The level of threat is exactly the same as on previous Saturdays. We have once again detected calls for violence on social media, including against law enforcement and commercial facilities," he said, adding that law enforcement will be deployed on the same scale as before. Thus, 110 mobile units, 25 Centaure armored vehicles from the National Gendarmerie, and water cannons will be put on alert.
According to the minister most of the protests that were organized by trade unions across France on November 5 were basically calm, despite isolated incidents staged by radicals. However, as for the November 7 actions, they are not initiated by trade unions, so, "the situation will be different," he added.
Mass protests have been taking place in France since late September, when high school students began blocking schools to express their dissatisfaction with the poor condition of the facilities, as well as with overstretched schedules and a shortage of teachers for certain subjects. In October, trade unions also organized protests, demanding higher wages and for the government to abandon additional austerity measures. On November 9, Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu is scheduled to meet with union representatives and CEOs of major companies to discuss ways out of the current situation.